Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Pope Francis on Sunday thanked his predecessor Benedict XVI for his service to God and the church after the 95-year-old pontiff died one day earlier.
Speaking to the crowd gathered in Saint Peter's Square, Francis said: "Let us all join together, with one heart and one soul, in thanking God for the gift of this faithful servant of the Gospel and of the Church."
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who served as pontiff from 2005 until resigning in 2013, died at his residence on the Vatican grounds following several days of declining health, the Vatican announced. Benedict was the first pope to resign in 600 years.
Earlier during his homily at Saint Peter's Basilica, Francis said" "Today we entrust to our Blessed Mother our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI so that she may accompany him in his passage from this world to God.
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Benedict's body will lay in state in Saint Peter's Basilica starting Monday. Francis will preside over Benedict's funeral Thursday morning in St. Peter's Square.
The last words of Benedict XVI, who was born Joseph Ratzinger, were heard around around 3 in the morning by a nurse who didn't speak German, before he died at 9:30 a.m. local time.
"With just a whisper of a voice, but in a clearly distinguishable manner, said in Italian: 'Lord, I love you!,' " His secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, recounted emotionally. "I was not there at the moment, but the nurse told me about it shortly afterwards. These were his last comprehensible words, because afterwards he was no longer able to express himself."
The Vatican released a spiritual testament dated Aug. 29, 2006 in which Benedict thanked God for guiding him "well" throughout life.
On the first day of the new year, Francis told the faithful gathered outside, "let us devote some time to seeing, to opening our eyes, and to keeping them open before what really matters: God and our brothers and sisters."
Jan. 1 is also the Catholic Church's World Day of Peace.
Francis underscored the need to regain "awareness of the responsibility that has been entrusted to us to construct the future." We need "a spirit of responsibility and compassion" and solidarity to confront the crises in our lives and societies, including wars.
